During the month of August,
we celebrate the important
role that women continue to
play in contributing to the
development of our society. We also
celebrate the sacrifices women have
made towards the advancement of the
South African Economy. In particular, we
celebrate the achievement of women
entrepreneurs who have succeeded
despite all odds in the Small Business and
Cooperatives environment.

President Ramaphosa’s
recent speeches and
interventions in government
appointments has brought a
note of optimism into public dialogue.
There was a tangible sigh of relief that
the Zuma years may be over. Yet a
great deal more has to happen before
the disastrous situation Ramaphosa
inherited can be turned around.

How do we explain why
South Africa has not made
more progress in reducing
its high levels of poverty,
unemployment and
inequality? It is an irony
that a country endowed with
several precious minerals and
a well-developed infrastructure
should be suffering this triple
burden. In this extract from
a study carried out by the
authors, we get a glimpse of
their penetrating analysis
of what has happened to
the economy over a 24-year
period. The usual causes
are there: state capture,
poor coordination between
government departments,
a burgeoning public service
with rising real wages, rentseeking
corporations, failure
to diversify and continuous
support for capital-intensive
and resource-based industries.

What should worry us, though,
is the evidence they present of
a country in an advanced stage
of deindustrialisation. Lest
we despair, the authors offer
a comprehensive vision of the
way forward.

What has happened over the
past two decades that has
brought the economy to a
standstill and given rise to
populist movements and higher
levels of social discord? In this
speech delivered at the launch
of the Kgalema Motlanthe
Foundation, Mcebisi Jonas
pinpoints the capture of the
state as the avalanche that
weakened it, in turn having
a negative effect on growth,
output, jobs and revenue. He
sees the discontent among the
poor, which is a consequence
of these macro issues, as
fertile ground for the growth
of racially-based ideologies
and populist rhetoric by some
political parties.

The gathering of about 400
South Africans from an array
of backgrounds at Champagne
Sports Resort in the Drakensberg
in June was dubbed a ‘Dialogue
among Equals’. It was the launch
of the Kgalema Motlanthe
Foundation, and it could prove to
be the start of ongoing dialogue
between former Ministers
and Members of Parliament,
senior public servants, the
youth and all sections of civil
society who gathered to find
common ground and develop
action plans for a “New Dawn”.
The Kgalema Motlanthe
Foundation will produce a
public report with concrete
proposals. In the meantime,
conference participant Mary
Turok recorded the proceedings
and shares her notes here.

Whether you are for or against
expropriation of land without
compensation, everyone has
questions about who will
get land and how it will be
done. Dr Jordan proposes
some answers to this complex
and controversial subject. He
offers some solutions which,
if done properly, could create
opportunities for hundreds of
thousands of small-scale black
farmers and the many rural communities in which they
live, without creating a new,
land-owning elite.

After analysing land
redistribution policy and
implementation in the Eastern
Cape, the writer is of the
view that the issue of land
redistribution is driven more
by market-led considerations
than the concerns of landless
rural inhabitants. She also
highlights the confusion that
characterises the process of
land redistribution with the
involvement of several tiers of
government, resulting in high
levels of disaffection among
intended beneficiaries.
Editor’s note: This article
was written before the recent
parliamentary committee
participation process.

The authors express concern
that South Africa is headed for
a fiscal cliff due to declining
revenue and rising expenditure,
the bulk of which is composed
of social assistance payments,
public sector wages and debt
service obligations. They call
for greater competition in
the political and economic
system as well as a strong
commitment to curb
expenditure of the three large
components.

Since the transition to political
democracy in South Africa
there have been fierce debates
around the role of the state
in the economy. The article
by Moeletsi Mbeki and his
co-authors express the views
generally held by those who
prefer a lesser role for the state
and who have serious concerns
about the effects of budget deficits. For the other side –
those who favour a bigger
role for the state – Professor
Padayachee writes a rejoinder
to the Mbeki et al. article.
While he broadly accepts the
arguments about profligate
spending, he points out that
deficits are a symptom – and
not the cause – of many
weaknesses that plague the
South African economy.

Prof Haines points out that
the economy is not just
about factories and farms
and the services that they
offer, important though they
may be. He introduces us to
the creative world of ideas,
innovation and inventions and
the contribution they make
to national economies. He
outlines the role of the state in
stimulating the sustainable
and production-rich processes
associated with creative
industries and for tapping
into the social, cultural
and heritage capital that is
embedded in societies.

Decolonisation has been
a recurring theme in
narratives on Africa’s social,
economic, political and
cultural development. In
South Africa, the debate on
decolonisation reached fever
pitch in 2016 with the Fees
Must Fall Movement on
university campuses. Of the
many issues that surfaced
in the course of the debate, however, few seemed to have
spawned consensus on what
is to be decolonised and how.
That shouldn’t surprise
anyone given the class and
racial divides in the country.
In a speech to students and
Faculty at the University of
the Western Cape’s Africa
Day celebrations, Prof Turok
considers some of the issues
raised by decolonisation and
highlights those that he feels
need our urgent attention.